Letter-pouch



(No Model.)

H. H. JOI-IANNIGMAN.

LETTER POUCH.

No. 472,791. Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

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UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY H. JOHANNIGMAN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

LETTER-POUCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,791, dated April 12, 1892.

- Application tiled September 14, 1891. Serial No. 405,579. (No model.)

To a/ZZ 1,071,077?, t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY H. JOHANNIGMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Pouches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference beinghad to the annexed drawings,wl1ich .form part of this specification.

This invention relates to those envelopes, letter-pouches, or other similar mail'- cases which are comparatively permanent in their character and have an address on one side to indicate the person and place the envelope is to be forwardedto and on the other Vside another address to'show that the envelope after being used is to be returned to the sender; and myimprovement comprises a novel means of securely closing the mouth of such pouches and yet permits their ready opening after the seal of the same has been broken. T o accomplish this result the mouth of the envelopey orpouch is closed by any temporary device, an ordinary paper-fastener being preferred for obvious reasons, which fastener not only passes through the envelope, but also traverses the front and back folds of a special form of tag. This tag is ordinarily made of heavy Manilapaper or other similar material and is doubled around the mouth ofthe envelope, and after the paper-fastener has been clinched against one fold of said tag a gummed tongue of the latter is moistened and then caused to adhere to said fold. Consequently the clinched end of the fastener is sealed Within this gummed portion of the tag, thereby eifectually closing the mouth of the mail-receptacle, said tag being of such a size as to afford ample room for the postal and canceling stamps, &c., thereby preventing any obliteration of the printed addresses or inscriptions of the envelope, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the annexed drawings, Figure lis a front view of an envelope embodying my improvements, the special tag being omitted therefrom. Fig. 2 is a vievsT of this detached tag. Fig. 3 is another front view of the envelope, but showing the tag attached thereto by a paper-fastener. Fig. 4t is a rear View of the upper portion of the envelope, the ends of said fastener being cliched against the tag and the ungumrned tongue of the latter being in its normal position. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the complete envelope, the clinched ends of the paper-fastener beingvsealed Within the gummed tongue. Fig 6 is an enlarged transverse section of the complete envelope, said section being taken in the plane of the paperfastener. Fig. 7 is a modification of my invention.

A represents the front of an envelope, letter-pouch, or other similar case or receptacle for conveying mail-matter, and B is the back of said envelope,which back is preferably,but not necessarily, prolonged to afford a flap C, that covers the Vmouth of the pouch in the ordinary manner. Furthermore, the mouth may be situated either at one side or end of the envelope, but usually at the end as a matter of better protection.

a, b, and c are holes made, respectively, in the front, back, and flap of the envelope to admit a paper-fastener or equivalent device, said holes being seen in Fig. 6.

D D in Fig. 2 represent two similar folds -I formed by bending a tag longitudinally, said folds being perforated at d d and one of them being provided with a lateral extension or tongue E, that is gummed on its outer surface, as at F. This tag is made of any suitable iiexible material, capable of vbeing united with gum or other adhesive coating; but generally said tag is composed of thick Manila paper. G is an'ordinary paper-fastener, and g g are the prongs of the same,.which prongs ortangs can be bent down or clinched in the serts letters or other valuable mail-matter in the mouth of the envelope and closes the latter with the flap C, after which act the tag is so bent and applied as to cause one of itsfolds D to bear against said flap, as seen in Fig. 3,

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so as to cause this gummed portion to'adhere to the fold D, the result being the complete concealment of the clinched prongs. The envelope is now a'sealed letter; but as itvhas different addresses on its opposite sides some ready expedient must be resorted to in order that it may be mailed to the proper party. Therefore the sender must stamp that fold D of the vtag which happens to be on .the side of the envelope Where Cincinnati, Ohio, is printed,the position of this stamp being indicated by dottedlines H, the other portion of said fold D affording ample space for postmarking lthe letter, as suggested by the dotted circle I; When the letter is received, the gummed Hap E is torn away from the fold D',

thereby exposing the clinched prongs g g,

which are accordingly bent out straight to permit the withdrawal of the fastener G and the detachment of the doubled tag D D. rIhe latter is then thrown away, because it is no longer of any use, and the flap C being raised the contents of the envelope are at once accessible. To return the envelope to the sender at Indianapolis, Indiana, a newtag'is applied,

l and the stamp H is then attached to the fold D at the back B of said envelope, as seen in Fig.` 5, in which illustration I represents the Y post mark. It Will thus be seen that my invention is especially applicable to those return envelopes or pouches which are repeatedly sent back and forth from'one party to lto other mailing-receptacles.

another; butthe tag can be as readily applied In the modification of my invention (seen in Fig. 7) the tag is a mere band passed around the envelope-flap instead of over it, that portion of the tag between its exposed end and the dotted linef being gummed, so as to act as a seal for inclosing the clinched ends of the paper-fastener, H and I being the stamp and post-mark. Figs. 4 and 5 show the clinched ends of the paper-fastener and the tongue of the tag located on the rear side of the envelope, so as to cause the head of .said fastener to appear on the face of the receptacle, as seen in Fig. 3; but this position of the fastener and tag may be exactly reversed, as represented in Fig. 6 where said ends and tongue are'in front and the fastener-head in the rear; but while the position of these parts'is whollyimmaterial it is essential to the proper mailing of the envelope that the stamp be attached on the side having the address to which the envelope is to be sent. Finally the holes a i h c el CZ should be made in their appropriate places whentheenvelope and tag are manufactured, in order that the fastener may be instantly applied without using a perforating implement.

I claim as my invention- An envelope orletter pouch perforatednear its mouth, at a b, and a perforated tag D D', having a gummed portion E,which tag is folded over said mouth and secured by a pa per-fastener, as G, the clinched ends of the latter being sealed by causing said gumm'ed portion E to adhere to onefold of said tag, substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in i the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY H. .Toi-IANNIGMAN.

Witnesses:

J AMES H. LAYMAN, j FRANCIS M. BIDDLE. 

